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Firefox

Editing Tools Use the Profile Manager to create and

remove Firefox profiles
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Firefox saves your personal information such as bookmarks, passwords, and

Basic browsing
user preferences in a set of files called your profile, which is stored in a

Install and update separate location from the Firefox program files. You can have multiple Firefox

profiles, each containing a separate set of user information. The Profile

Sync and save
Manager allows you to create, remove, rename, and switch profiles.

Chat and share If you are creating a dedicated profile for another installed version of

Firefox, see Using a dedicated profile for Firefox Nightly and Using a
Do more with apps
dedicated profile for Firefox Beta.

Protect your privacy If you are troubleshooting a problem with Firefox: The Refresh Firefox

feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state
Manage preferences and
add-ons while saving your essential information. Consider using it before going

through a lengthy troubleshooting process.

Fix slowness, crashing,
error messages and other
problems
Table of Contents

Starting the Profile Manager

Start the Profile Manager when Firefox is closed

Creating a profile

Removing a profile

Renaming a profile

Manage profiles when Firefox is open

Options

Work Offline

Use the selected profile without asking at startup

Use Sync with a new profile

Moving a profile

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 Recovering information from an old profile

Starting the Profile Manager

Note: You can also manage profiles when Firefox is open (see below)

but certain options are only available when you start the Profile

Manager when Firefox is closed.

Start the Profile Manager when Firefox is closed

If Firefox is already included in your Linux distribution or if you have installed

Firefox with the package manager of your Linux distribution:

1. If Firefox is open, close Firefox:

Click the Firefox menu , then click Quit .

2. In Terminal run:
firefox -P

Note: The P is capitalized. Alternatively, you can use -ProfileManager instead of

-P.

The Firefox Profile Manager (Choose User Profile) window should open.

If the Profile Manager window does not open, Firefox may have been
running in the background, even though it was not visible. Close all

instances of Firefox or restart the computer and then try again.

Creating a profile

After starting the Profile Manager as explained above, you can create a new,

additional profile as follows:

1. In the Profile Manager, click Create Profile... to start the Create Profile
Wizard.

2. Click Next and enter the name of the profile. Use a profile name that is

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 descriptive, such as your personal name. This name is not exposed on

the Internet.

3. You can also choose where to store the profile on your computer. To

choose its storage location, click Choose Folder... .

Warning: If you choose your own folder location for the profile,

select a new or empty folder. If you choose a folder that isn't

empty and you later remove the profile and choose the "Delete

Files" option, everything inside that folder will be deleted.

4. To create the new profile, click Finish .

You will be taken back to the Profile Manager window, where you can either
start Firefox or exit the Profile Manager.

Note: If you want the Profile Manager to appear the next time you
start Firefox, remove the checkmark from the box, "Use the selected
profile without asking at startup". Otherwise, the selected profile will
be used automatically.

When you first start Firefox with the new profile, you will be prompted to sign
in to your Firefox Account so that you can sync your data with the new profile
(see below).

Removing a profile

After starting the Profile Manager as explained above, you can remove an

existing profile as follows:

1. In the Profile Manager, select the profile to remove, and click

Delete Profile... .

2. Confirm that you wish to delete the profile:

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 Don't Delete Files removes the profile from the Profile Manager yet
retains the profile data files on your computer in the storage folder, so
that your information is not lost. "Don't Delete Files" is the preferred
option because it saves the old profile's folder and allows you to recover

the files to a new profile.

Delete Files removes the profile and its files, including the profile
bookmarks, settings, passwords, etc.

Warning: If you use the "Delete Files" option, the profile folder

and files will be deleted. This action cannot be undone.

Cancel interrupts the profile deletion.

Renaming a profile

After starting the Profile Manager as explained above, you can rename a
profile as follows:

1. In the Profile Manager, select the profile to rename, and then click
Rename Profile... .

2. Enter the new name for the profile. Type in the new profile name, and

click on OK .

Note: The folder containing the files for the profile is not renamed.

Manage profiles when Firefox is open

Type about:profiles into the Firefox address bar and choose from the
following options:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles#w_removing-a-profile
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 Create a new profile: Click Create a New Profile and follow the steps
in the Creating a profile section above. After you finish creating the new
profile, it will be listed in the Profile Manager. Select the Set as default
profile option underneath that profile, if you want Firefox to use your
new profile the next time you start Firefox.

To manage profiles, find the profile you want to change and choose from these
buttons underneath that profile:

Rename: Click this to change the name of a profile in the Profile

Manager. Note: The folder containing the files for the profile is not
renamed.

Remove: Click this to delete a profile. (The profile in use cannot be

deleted.)

Warning: This action cannot be undone. See the Removing a

profile section above for more information.

Set as default profile: Click this to make Firefox use this profile at
startup, unless you switch to a different profile.

Launch profile in new browser: When you click this button, another
Firefox window will open using that profile.

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 Options
These options are only available when you start the Profile Manager when
Firefox is closed.

Work Offline

Choosing this option loads the selected profile and starts Firefox without
connecting to the Internet. You can view previously viewed web pages and
experiment with your profile.

Use the selected profile without asking at startup

When you have multiple profiles, this option tells Firefox what to do at startup:

If you check this option, Firefox will automatically load the selected profile
at startup. To access other profiles, you must start the Profile Manager

first.

If you uncheck this option, Firefox will show you the Profile Manager each

time you start Firefox, so that you can select a profile to use.

Use Sync with a new profile

When you first open Firefox with a new profile, you will be prompted to sign in
to Sync, which allows different Firefox profiles to share the same bookmarks,

browsing history, passwords and other user data.

If you already use Sync in another profile or device, enter the email

address and password for your Firefox Account and your new profile will
use those settings.

If you don't use Sync or if you don't want to sync your data with the new

profile, you can skip this step.

See How do I choose what types of information to sync on Firefox? and How do

I set up Sync on my computer? for more information.

Moving a profile
To copy all of your Firefox data and settings to another Firefox installation (e.g.

when you get a new computer), you can make a backup of your Firefox profile,
then restore it in your new location. For instructions, see Back up and restore

information in Firefox profiles.

Recovering information from an old profile

If you have important information from an old Firefox profile, such as

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 bookmarks, passwords, or user preferences, you can transfer that information

to a new Firefox profile by copying the associated files. For instructions, see
Recovering important data from an old profile.

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https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles#w_removing-a-profile
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